Road Warrior Pampering

We Road Warriors have a hectic schedule. However, in the interests of research, I managed to squeeze in a session at the Ugadale Hotel’s Serenity Spa in between rounds of grand golf, gourmet meals and vintage whisky tastings.

The Ugadale Hotel in The Village at Machrihanish Dunes reopened in February after being restored to the former glory it enjoyed back in its heyday during the 1900s. Back then the Ugadale welcomed captains of industry and their families from Scotland the U.S. who would descend upon Machrihanish for summer holidays filled with rounds of golf, beach strolls and extravagant parties.

Nowadays visitors to the Village still enjoy the same leisurely pursuits but we also have the Serenity Spa. A treatment here is the ideal way to soothe those aching golf muscles or to detox after a dram too many the night before. So I figured I’d be “killing two birds with one stone.”

Aromatherapy begins as soon as you enter the Spa. Laura Kennedy, the owner has several scented candles aglow at the reception desk filling the air with a fresh fragrance created especially for her called Mull of Kintyre Sea Mist.

Laura’s Spa menu is extensive, offering an array of facials, manicures, pedicures and body treatments. I opted for the Essential Golfer’s Treatment, a one-hour massage that focuses on the major muscles used in a round, especially the hips, shoulders, lower back, legs and feet. Laura has a wonderful move using her knuckles along your soles called the “cheese grater.” And now, if I can just pry myself off the table, there’s a single malt waiting to be sampled.

Anita Draycott has been a Toronto-based journalist, editor and photographer for more than 25 years. She writes for several golf and consumer publications including Doctor's Review, Fairways, Golf Canada, Air Canada Vacations, Dreamscapes, Zoomer and TravelingGolfer.net. Her column, Fairways to Heaven, appears bi-monthly in www.travelindustrytoday.com. A self-confessed golf addict, she has chased dimpled white balls over six continents.